Wrench



R.-W. PAYNE.

WRENCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 17, I916.

1,349,691. Patented Aug. 17, 1920.

- 'PWWW/ $579668 vwewtoz aw? I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH w. PAYNE, or mvmeron, New JERSEY, ASSIGNOROF ONE-HALF To vrcron c.ARMSTRONG, or nnonnnsncx, new JERSEY.

WRENCH.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented A11 1'7, 1920.

Application filed March 17, 1916. Serial No. 84,962.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH W. PAYNE, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Irvington, New Jersey, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in VVren'ches, of which the following is aspecification.

The invention relates to ratchet wrenches, and more especially towrenches especially adapted for railway track work in screwing andunscrewing the nuts ofrail joints. Objects and advantages of theinvention will be setforth in part hereinafter and in part will beobvious herefrom, such objects and advantages being attained andrealized through the means and structures pointed out in theaccompanying claim.

The invention consists in the novel parts, articles, constructions,arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described.

The accompanying drawings referred to herein, and constituting a parthereof, illustrate one embodiment of the invention, and

together with the description serve to explain the principles thereof.

Of the drawings: 1

Figure 1 is a plan view of a wrench constructed in accordance with theprinciples of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view, on an enlarged scale, of the left hand endof Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail of the pawl, looking at the flat face thereof;

Fig. 5 is a detail of the pawl looking at Fig. 4: from the bottom;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a form adapted for veryclosework,

that is where the nut is close to an angle or turn in the chair or therail joint;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section on the line C- D of Fig. 6, and

Fig. 8 is a cross section through the head with the socket membersremoved.

Referring by way of example to the accompanying drawings, a wrench isshown with a handle 1 and a head 2. The head 2 is preferably formed fiatupon its sides and of general circular or annular form. The head 2 isprovided with an internal circular aperture 3, and in accordance withcertain features of the invention, the aperture 3 is formed in the head2 eccentrically to the general circular shape of the head. Thiseccentricity of the aperture 3 in the head of the wrench is adistinctive and important feature of the invention inasmuch as it provides for arranging therein a rotating nut engaging unit whose center isarrangedeccentri'c to the center of the supporting head on thelongitudinal axial line of the tool, thereby disposing the nut engagingunit in such a position as to meet the space requirement of the nuts ona rail joint. ith the ordinary ratchet wrench in use it is frequentlyimpossible to place the head of the wrench over a rail oint nut onaccount of the small space between the bottom of the rail joint bar.Therefore, the present invention is intended to meet precisely thatcondition and to so locate the nut engaging unit at the extreme end ofthe tool opposite the handle so that such nut engaging member may passinto the space between a rail joint nut and the foot flange of the jointbar and thus permit a workman to properly tighten the nut.

In connection with the modification shown in Figs. 6 and 7 of thedrawings it is to be observed that the nut members 5 and 6 projectbeyond the opposite faces of the tool head to provide nut receivingsockets, and

the outer faces of said members taper from the head of the tooloutwardly, the pitch of said taper being substantially that of; theinclined upper surface of the foot flange of a rail joint bar.

I11 accordance with one feature of the invention there is formed withinthe aperture 3, and preferably centrally thereof, an inwardly projectingand preferably annular shouldered portion l, the inward part of theaperture 3 being thereby rendered of less diameter. As shown, theinwardly projecting portion at has flat sides (see especially Figs. 2and 8), and an internal. circular or cylindrical bearing surface of lessdiameter than the aperture at either side thereof. In the preferred formtheaperture 3 opens into the end-of the head 2 (shown at the right inFigs. 2 and 3) but the inwardly projecting portion 4: forms a continuousring past or across such opening in the end of the head 2. The internalcylindrical surface of the part 4; thus forms a supporting and bearingsurface for the nutengaging members 5 and 6, which rotate therewithinfitting and rotating within Nut'engaging members 5 and 6 are fitted intothe aperture 3 in the head. In the preferred construction two suchmembers are used, and are of like construction, and in such case asingle description will sufiice. The nut engaging member has ratchetteeth 7 arranged in annular series about its exterior periphery, theratchet teeth fitting Within the aperture 3 in the head. The nutengaging member has also an internal annular-portion 8 of less diameterthan the ratchet teeth bearing portion, the portion 8 the inwardlyprojecting shoulder part 4.

The inner; faces 9 of the nut engaging members-5 and 6, according tocertain features of theinvention, are in contact within the shoulderedportion 4 of the head. The

'nut engaging members are joined at said abutting faces 9 by torsionresisting devices pro ectlng lnto-the nut engaging members.

The embodied form of said devices comprises dowels 10 fitting intocorresponding holes in both'themembers 5 and 6. Screws 11 are alsoemployed, passing infrom the exterior, to 7 also hold the nut engagingmembers from lateral displacement as well.

In the embodied form,a pawl is provided common to both 'sets of ratchetteeth on the respective nut engaging members 5 and 6.

The pawl tooth proper comprises a broad member 12 working in a recess 13extending. transversely through'the head 2. The tooth 12 at one endthereof engages the ratchet teeth 7 on the nut engaging member 5, and atthe other end thereof it engages the ratchet teeth 7 upon the nutengaging member 6. At each of these parts the tooth is beveledas shownat 14, to reduce friction and to prevent a back drag on the nut duringthe'idle or return movement of the wrench. Extending from the'tooth 12is a stem 15 working in an aperture 16 in the head 2, the: pawl beingspringrpressed by a suitable spring. 17, encircling the stem 15 andbeing seated in an enlargement 18, at

V theouter part of the aperture 16.

' hers.-

In Fig- 7 of the drawings, the nut engaging members 5 and 6 are shownprojecting outwardly fromjthe head, and decreasingly beveled toward theouter end. In this form also, the inner portions of the nut engagingmembers are made much stronger and heavier, by reason of the additionalspace available, the inner part of each of the members 5 and. 6projecting radially inwardly, as shown at 20 in Figs. 6 and 7, giving avery heavy construction for the dowels and screws to hold in. In thisform, the wrench will work in exceedingly close quarters, and while thestrain of the nut is displaced from the center of the wrench, suchstrains are amply provided for by the features of construction alreadyreferred to and by the heavy construction for the torsion resistingdevices just described.

The fiat sides of the ratchet teeth 7 on the members 5 and 6 whichengage with the pawl in the preferred form, are cut slightly inwardlyradially beyond the outer periphery of the inwardly projecting parts 8of the members 5 and ('3, as appears best from Figs. 2 and 6. The parts8 have grooves or recesses therein, and the central part 22 of the pawltooth 12 is shaped to engage the grooves and thus to provide anadditional hold for the pawl all the way across, see also Figs. t and 5.

It will be understood from the foregoing that a construction has beenprovided realizing the objects of the invention and advantages hereinset forth, together with other objects and advantages; and it will. befurther understood that departures may be made from the precisestructure shown and described, within the scope of the accompanyingclaim, without departing from the principles of the invention andwithout sacrificing its chief advantages.

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent isA nut wrench of the class described comprising a handle carrying a headhaving an eccentric aperture and a. rib within the same and lying in aplane between the opposite faces of the head, and a. rotatable ratchetnut-engaging unit journalcd in said aperture and comprising duplicatemembers separably connected and having coinplcmental teeth disposed inthe same direction, the tooth portions of.the two members respectivelylying on opposite sides of said rib, and said. nut engaging unit havingits center located on the longitudinal axis of the handle and betweenthe center of said head and one extreme end of the tool, and a pawlengaging said complemcntal teeth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

RALPH W. PAYNE. lVitnesses:

JOHN D. MORGAN, LOUISA Lonrm.

